Boston Hospitals in Top 10 on US News Honor Roll

US News and World Report today released their 2014-15 Best Hospitals rankings. Boston-based hospitals, which have historically done well in this annual list, took two of the 17 spots on the coveted Honor Roll list.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. took the first position on the Honor Roll for the first time, followed by Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which maintained the second-place position from last year’s Honor Roll. The next Boston hospital on the list was Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, which also maintained its no. 9 position.

The big upset this year was the essential flip-flop of positions between the Mayo Clinic (in first place this year) and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which was first place on the Honor Roll last year and has now dropped to third behind Mass. General.

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The US News rankings of approximately 5,000 medical centers were based on a points position determined by the collective rankings of the hospitals’ 16 specialties as well as their performance in particular categories such as patient survival rates and nurse staffing. The hospital’s reputation in the medical community is also a factor in the rankings, a factor evaluated by surveys sent and filled out by physicians across the country.

Mass. General ranked first and McLean Hospital ranked fourth in psychiatry. In diabetes and endocrinology as well as gastroenterology and GI surgery, Mass. General ranked third. Brigham and Women’s Hospital ranked second in gynecology.

Boston is one of only three cities that achieved multiple positions on the Honor Roll list this year and last year. New York City’s NYU Langone Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital ranked at position 15 and 16, while Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center tied for the no. 12 spot and UCLA Medical Center ranked fifth.

Boston took positions in the top five in each of the specialty rankings for orthopedics, cardiology, cancer, ophthamology, ear nose and throat, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology, rheumatology, and geriatrics. In cardiology and heart surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital took the no. 5 spot just ahead of Mass. General at no. 6. In orthopedics, Mass. General took the no. 5 spot.

“Our caregivers and staff work every day to provide the very best care possible for our patients and families,’’ said Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD, president of Dana-Farber, in a prepared statement. “We do so in a unique way that combines deep expertise and specialization, knowledge of the underlying biology of cancer, teamwork, and an extraordinary focus on the needs of our patients. It’s nice to see this approach recognized by US News.’’

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary ranked at no. 4 for hospitals with ear, nose, and throat specialties. It also holds the no. 4 ranking for ophthalmology. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital ranked at no. 6 for rehabilitation.